I’m doing some research on engines that have been used in the Chili Bowl. The goal is to find out more about some of the engines that have not won the main events. We all know about the Fontana, Arias, Toyota, Esslinger, Gaerte, Barnes, SESCO, Mopar and VW engines. But I want to hear about things like what Robert Bell the "Colfax Comet" did in 2017. Or the year Matt Sherrell drove an outboard powered car.

My first Chili Bowl was in 1997 and I’ve always been fascinated by the ingenuity and variety of the power plants in the pits.

What I am asking for is if you were a competitor, team member or owner and used something not listed above (or an unusual variation of the above) could you please tell me a bit about that? Maybe the year, the driver, your results and what you learned i.e. great torque, bad decision, excellent response, etc.

What I don’t want is this thread to turn into is a people complaining about costs, rules and general whining about midget racing.

If you had the privilege of being able to say that you have “been there and done that” please share your experience.

Bart

We took a V-4 Chevy in 87 built by Canaday Brothers from Lathrop Mo
Scott Weyant drove it and I cannot remember where we finished but somewhere in the B
Of course I'm thinking there were only 60 cars

Thanks.

Was it a V8 cut in half? I see Scott came back for 6 or 7 more years. Did he use the same V-4 in 1989 or any of the following years? Do you remember what number you ran?

Bart

You Tube VideoSynergy V8's back in 2010

We ran the number 70
Yes it was a 302 cut in half with Brodex -11 heads bought as casting defects and cut in half
The crankshaft was purpose built with both rod journals being on the same plane, much like a Harley Davidson motorcycle engine
It had an unique sound that can be best described as obnoxious
The thing had incredible torque
I know this sounds crazy but I really don't remember how many times we ran that engine configuration
I think I drove it once or twice, Scott switched back & forth whenever he could get into someone else's car
It was a little different time, we could take a car, run it, make enough to basically pay for our trip
It's not possible today, but it's still the best week in racing for old midget nuts like me
Thanks for your interest

The Scat V4 was wicked and unique sounding. Is that the motor your talking about?

Robert bell has a "d2" Chevy ecotec from zero Motorsports if I remember correctly

Thank you!

I remember the engine, in fact I brought it up last week when talking to Mel Kenyon about his V8 motorcycle engine project.

This video is great for more details.

Bart

I've said for several years now that the V6 or V8 Motorcycle configuration motors were the answer to midget racing. They are designed to do 12,000 RPM and would last probably a hundred races before a overhaul. Overhead cams and multiple cam motors are the answer throughout racing. The less hard that motor has to work the longer they will last.

But lets keep throwing tens of thousands at a displacement and single cam tech can take us.

Not the Scat, it's crank journals are 180 degrees apart
The Canaday V-4 had them on the same plane
It had a totally different sound from the Scat
It sounded like 2 Harley's idling
It sounded like a fart under acceleration
It made crazy harmonics and always cracking the oil pan and headers in odd places